


danse macabre

by almondpretzel



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 25 lives AU, Alternate Universe - 1920s, Alternate Universe - 1960s, Alternate Universe - 1970s, Alternate Universe - Idols, Alternate Universe - Not K-Pop Idols, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Multi, Reincarnation, Sharing a Bed, it's not about dancing, it's not bad i promise, its just the theme, look at all those au tags, other nct members mentioned - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:15:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28551486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/almondpretzel/pseuds/almondpretzel
Summary: when they're thirteen donghyuck asks mark to dye his hair."because brown is boring," donghyuck explains, "and i'm not boring." his tone is serious, and mark knows it.mark smiles and agrees. the next week donghyuck steps out of mark's house with a blinding smile and bright red hair. he gets an earful from his mother and twelve new curses for his vocabulary.-markhyuck 25 lives au
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 9
Kudos: 45





	danse macabre

**Author's Note:**

> alexa ily sorry u cried. this isn't too bad? i actually like it a bit.  
> i went on a marathon of 25 lives fics and ;-;  
> kudos/comment if u enjoyed!
> 
> enjoy : D

_well, if my heart must break, dear love for your sake,_

_it will break in music, i know, poets' hearts break so_

roses and rue, oscar wilde

mark is in a constant waltz, being passed between the arms of life and death, black and white. he steps and spins. he never knows who will catch him next, how long he'll dance with who. a constant waltz, one two three.

a melody without a beat. an irrational song of coincidence and fate. he dances and dances. he moves without care, yet with the elegance of lost love. he doesn't pay much attention to the stage. nor to the audience. they watch him dance, laughing in their bellies on how uncoordinated he is. the tears constantly fall.

if he could, mark would stop the dance and take a bow. but he doesn't, he wouldn't. for one reason only: lee donghyuck. for donghyuck, mark would keep dancing.

spinning and stepping, one two three, one two three. dancing until the soles of his shoes burned through. until his feet bled raw. for donghyuck, he would continue this dance of life and death, of never knowing if the next step would send him falling off the stage.

the curtain rises on the stage.

**i**

mark is convinced he and donghyuck are halves of the same soul. people cut from the same stone. the first life he remembers, donghyuck is blond and doesn't love him back. he's sure this isn't the first life they've spent together, but it's the first he remembers.

this one is his favorite. he lies curled up in an old rocking chair, book in his lap and tea by his side. mark turns the page carefully, hoping the pages stay intact.

_everyone has their own agenda_

he loves this book, a story of family and friends. of life and death. of wishing nothing had changed.

there's two quick knocks at the door. mark furrows his brows. no-one comes by this side of the river anymore, since the war started. the next town almost half a day over. he closes his book, setting it down on the chair. he wraps his cardigan around himself, opening the door to the harsh cold.

the person on the other side of the door is in a dark cloak, obscuring his face. they lift up gloved hands to remove the hood. the stranger has soft features, and bright hair. he looks young, except a pale scar across his cheek. the scar goes from the edge of his eye to the end of his lip.

"i'm a refugee from the west isles. may i stay the night?" he says. his voice is honey like, similar to his skin.

mark blinks. _inhale. exhale._

"o-of course!" mark nearly shouts. "my name is minhyung. and you are?" he opens the door further, gesturing for the stranger to enter.

the man steps through the door, dropping his bag on the floor. he turns to mark and smiles. "i'm donghyuck." donghyuck removes his coat and boots, going further into the small cottage.

"do you mind sleeping on the couch?"

within almost five minutes, mark's life (or lives) changes forever. the next day, donghyuck tries to leave, but a blizzard was on its way and mark wouldn't let him. this goes on for the next month; donghyuck trying to leave and mark holding him back.

-

donghyuck never talks about himself, nothing about his past at least. mark learns about him little by little. things like he prefers strawberries or that his hair was naturally blond. he never asks where the scar came from. not like donghyuck would tell him anyway.

the other boy has taken a liking to mark's collection of books. most days, he's curled up into the couch with a book in his lap, which is where he is now.

"you've been reading a lot," mark says, sitting beside donghyuck. the blond doesn't look up, nodding his head and keeping his eyes trained on the page. "which is your favorite?"

"i like this one. it's interesting." donghyuck holds the book up for mark to see. mark hums. he likes that one too. a story of traveling, of wishes and power, of kings and boys, of destiny and treasures.

"it is, isn't it?"

-

mark gets used to donghyuck's presence. they've reached a balance, on will clean one will cook. sometimes, mark will read books to donghyuck, those in a different language, with oddly shaped letters and incomprehensible sounds. he tries his best to translate for his guest, and donghyuck appreciates his efforts.

_i, too, believe in heaven,_ mark reads slowly.

donghyuck continues, _not strong enough to disbelieve._ he giggles. _i knew it sounded familiar!_ donghyuck bursts.

spring comes fast, and donghyuck has started sleeping with mark on his bed. he finds himself falling, it's slow and he knows he's falling. but for donghyuck he would jump any day. the frost has begun melting, and mark can finally return to his garden. his food had hardly lasted them through the winter, and now he's greatful for the minimal warmth.

he brings donghyuck out to the garden. shows him where things go. shows him the vegetables and stalks and flowers.

donghyuck plucks out a small bloom. pink at the edges and nearly dead. he places it in mark's ear and gets another for himself. mark smiles and they walk back into the house hand in hand.

-

halfway into spring, mark invites donghyuck to go into the town. mark doesn't have a horse, so they put on their cloaks and begin walking with the sunrise. they walk slowly on the paved dirt, both silent and staring at where they walk.

donghyuck kicks a rock towards mark and they pass it back and forth until they arrive at the town.

they spend the afternoon laughing, donghyuck's hair looking beautiful in the afternoon sun. he ignores the stares of the townsfolk. their first stop is the bakery and mark buys donghyuck anything he wants to try. a lemon pastry, two blueberry scones. even a cup of tea.

the two walk around town for the entire day. donghyuck buys mark a pendant, a green jewel nestled in silver. he clasps the pendant around mark's neck. _i'll never take it off,_ he swears. mark can feel the echoes of donghyuck's giggles as they walk home.

mark kicks off his boots and collapses on the old couch once he steps through the door.

"it was from my mother." donghyuck says as he hangs up his coat.

mark turns his head from the couch. "what?"

"the scar. my mother had wanted to kill me." he sits on the other side of the couch. "slit my throat and let me rot."

mark nods. he tries to understand.

-

they spend the next year together. a peaceful balance established. mark keeps falling, but donghyuck just watches him tumble down the rocks from the top of the cliff.

donghyuck begins sleeping in mark's bed again. _it's the cold,_ he explains. secretly, mark is thankful for the extra warmth. and maybe even for donghyuck himself.

"do you even like it?" donghyuck whispers one night. mark turns around to him, and donghyuck holds onto the pendant around mark's neck.

"of course i do," mark smiles. "it's so beautiful, you know."

donghyuck buries his head into mark's chest, and they fall asleep like that.

they believed the war couldn't touch them here, out in the middle of nowhere where no one harmed anything. but it does the next winter. they lie in bed together, breaths in sync. rocks of metal and chemicals fall like rain from the sky one night. they destroy half the countryside in a war with no real enemies.

**ii**

in this life, they meet young. it's only been a few lifetimes since mark started remembering, but this is the first so far where he finds donghyuck again. it's here where he convinces himself that they're intertwined. meant to be. two halves of the same soul. two people cut from the same stone.

early on, he begins singing. his mother signs him up for guitar classes and he loves it. he sings his heart out whenever he can and all his family can do is laugh.

when he's fourteen he gets the news. _an audition_ , the poster says, _to become a k-pop idol._ mark does his research, he thinks this whole kpop thing is pretty cool. he practices whenever he can. some old bruno mars song he would never be able to recall again.

he goes to korea. it's tiring. grueling. but he loves it. he meets a lot of older boys, but mostly hangs around jaehyun and johnny. they whisper to each other in english in the corners of the practice room. johnny tells him about how he dropped everything for this life. a life without privacy, with tiring practices late into the night and instructors only in it for the money.

"would you ever go back?" mark asks while they pack up.

"never. i have regrets, sure. but i would never go back." johnny smiles and they walk to the dorms together.

mark lies awake that night. would he ever go back? to the first life. when it was just them in a small cottage nowhere. _no._ he decides. he wouldn't go back.

that night, mark tells himself he'll keep moving forward. for himself and for donghyuck.

-

mark hears whispers of a new trainee throughout the building. a voice of gold, they say, his mom was a trot singer. he doesn't believe any of them.

it's on a wednesday when they call him into the conference room. when he walks in mark feels his heart drop. donghyuck is there, across the room. he's talking with jaemin, laughing about something or the other. his hair is brown, and it looks beautiful.

mark thinks about the first life. the scar on donghyuck's face and his golden hair. he probably couldn't choose. he knows he'll love every donghyuck anyways.

they're making a show, the managers say. they get to showcase their talents before they debut, make a name for themselves. mark instantly gravitates to donghyuck, and they become best friends. mark is happy, he gets to do what he loves with donghyuck by his side.

the days leading to their debut blur into static, the only constant is donghyuck. mark watches the other trainees. he knows he'll forget them eventually, but it doesn't hurt to make friends. mark gets close to jeno, a shy boy with talent dripping off his skin and eyes reminiscent of the moon.

-

dance becomes his outlet. he practices choreographies late into tha night, and he knows donghyuck worries. he dances, and while he dances, he thinks.

it this really another chance? will he and donghyuck get their happily ever after? after this, what then? will he live another life, with donghyuck a breath away, or will it end?

he wonders too, if anyone else experiences this. this cruel cycle of life and death.

-

jeno tells him one night, when they're alone in the room. tells mark that he's in love with jaemin. mark tells jeno about his own love and they console each other in the dark practice room, somewhere in the middle of seoul.

mark cries for jeno, and for himself. he knows love isn't something of value in an industry like theirs.

they dance late into the night and sing until their lungs bleed, but they all know there's nothing they'd rather do. fifteen trainees, more as the years and months go on. they all hold each other through nights when it gets too much, when donghyuck's tears soak through mark's skin.

"haechan," donghyuck says one night. they're lying side by side on donghyuck's small bed. debut is only a month away for mark. "you have to call me haechan."

mark nods. it takes him years to get used to the name.

-

the door creaks. "mark?" a voice calls into the room. mark sits up, making space in the small bed. donghyuck crawls in beside him. he falls asleep afterwards, though he can feel the tears soaking through his shirt.

-

  1. nct dream has just started to make a name for themselves but mark can feel things fall apart. it starts with donghyuck refusing to talk to him. he doesn't know why. he corners donghyuck in the kitchen when everyone had gone to sleep.



"why won't you talk to me?" he asks. there's no use trying to tip-toe around the subject. he tries to grab one of donghyuck's hand, but he pulls away.

"why do i have to?" donghyuck retorts. he gets a glass from the cupboard. "i don't owe you anything, lee."

mark winces. "at least tell me why you're upset." donghyuck walks past him and fills his cup. they switch rooms the next night.

-

saturday night. a day off. mark spends most of the day inside, catching up on rest and watching mindless cartoons.

11:36, the clock reads. why did he stay up so late? he hears the door open. mark ignores it, it's probably just their manager.

mark tenses when he feels the person slip into bed behind him. arms wrap around him.

"i'm so sorry. i'm sorry." donghyuck says into his shoulder. mark can feel tears through his shirt. he turns around and kisses donghyuck's nose.

"i won't ask." mark whispers into the night. right before he falls asleep, he hears a soft _thank you_.

when he wakes up donghyuck is gone, but there's a mug of hot chocolate by his bed. it's the biggest fight they have, if it can be called such. mark doesn't like to talk about it.

-

nct stays relevant for years, even after he and donghyuck leave. donghyuck makes a name for himself in the acting world and mark is always by his side. mark becomes a producer. makes music for younger artists. artists more relevant. eventually, he retires from the glamour of korea with donghyuck.

when they're in their fifties they take a trip to jeju, just the two of them. they sit under the stars in donghyuck's hometown and talk about how the years have treated them. mark holds donghyuck's hand as they lay on a ratty old picnic blanket.

donghyuck turns to him. "i always did love you. i should've told you sooner."

mark smiles. "i know," he whispers. it's a lie, and he hopes donghyuck can't feel his rapidly beating heart. he kisses donghyuck for the first time on a small island, in their own pocket of paradise under the stars of jeju.

this life treated him well, mark knows, and he worries he'll never find donghyuck again. but it doesn't really matter, does it? wherever donghyuck is, whether or not they meet, mark will love him. it's not opinion, it's really just fact.

**iii**

this is one of the more intresting lives, mark concludes as he arrives in the northern kingdom. this is an interesting world. a world where people can manipulate life itself. some can create towers of ice, while some build forests of pure fire. mark, however, cannot do any of this.

he's been traveling through the middle kingdom for years since his mother died. he didn't cry. months ago he caught whispers of a princess so beautiful she couldn't leave her palace. mark hears her name, _haechan_ , in a fishing town, he knows exactly who she is. after talking to more people than he'd like to a weaver tells him this princess is from the northern kingdom. the third daughter of a third daughter, she was blessed by the spirits from birth.

now, mark stands at the tall gates of the palace in the northern kingdom. he sees a guard approaching him, spear at his side and gaze firm.

"sir, what business do you have at the palace?"

mark smiles, "i am a messenger of the spirits, and i believe i could be of use to the royal family," he lies easily. being nearly immortal has its perks. the guard looks confused, but he calls to another guard in a tongue mark can't understand.

the guard leaves and mark waits for nearly ten minutes before the gates open. mark walks in confidently and a courtier in bright yellow robes is waiting on the other side.

"hello, doyoung." mark greets. the courtier's eyes widen.

-

the throne room is, to put it mildly, grand. it's relatively small, but the marble pillars and tapestries make up for it. mark kneels a few feet from the platform the thrones are on, keeping his head down.

"you are the one who claims to be of the spirits? what business do you have here?" the king's voice is deep, and mark can feel it carry across the room.

"yes, your majesty. i have special business with your daughter, the princess haechan." mark stares at the marble floor. he feels black shadows swirl around his feet.

mark can feel the king's stare, when a door beside the platform opens. "father!" a high-pitched voice calls. "oh, you have a guest?" the voice softens, and mark assumes this is the widely-revered haechan.

a few words in another language are exchanged before the door closes again. "look up, boy." the king says. mark looks up, and makes eye contact with the king. "my daughter has taken a liking to you. doyoung will escort you to her chamber, and you may talk of specifics there." mark smiles at the familiar name when he gets up.

-

"how did you know my name?" doyoung asks as they walk through the halls of the palace. most of the palace has dark walls lined with tapestries.

"we've met. long ago. in your previous life."

"i've had a previous life?" doyoung stops before a door nearly as grand as the one in the throne room. "this is your stop."

mark smiles, the kind of smiles that shows he knows something no one else does. "we've all had them. thank you, doyoung."

when he enters the room, he's immediately hit by a hard floral scent. inside, the room has a low ceiling, but is actually very big. in the center is a circular bed with dark red sheets.

"hi!" donghyuck pops out from nowhere, startling mark. "you're the one who lived with spirits?" mark nods slowly. donghyuck is only wearing a dark red robe, her dark hair falling to her waist.

moments later, mark is sitting on the bed with donghyuck in front of him in a chair.

donghyuck rests her arms on her knees and leans forward, "prove to me you lived with spirits."

her eyes are shining, and mark can't look away.

"i know your real name."

her eyes widen. "h-how? did the spirits tell you?"

"no, you did. long ago. you wouldn't remember it, hyuckie."

-

donghyuck decides to make mark her escort. she's taken a definite liking to him and always asks him from stories of other worlds. mark indulges her, and tells her stories of lives he's lived, as if they're stories of great heroes in epic legends.

months later, mark and donghyuck have gotten close, and the king doesn't seem to like it to much. what she doesn't know, though, is how mark falls into donghyuck's bed on most nights, how donghyuck whines into his neck and how she admires mark when he's asleep.

-

"mark?" donghyuck asks one night. they're laying in her bed, hands intertwined. "if you were blessed by the spirits, why can't you do anything with the elements?" she holds up a hand, a small flame appearing on it. it lights up the room, and mark thinks she looks otherworldly in the dim light.

"they didn't bless me with power. they blessed me with wisdom, with knowledge." he decides to answer.

"is that how you knew my name?" she extinguishes the flame and moves closer to him.

"you know the answer to that, sunshine."

-

the princess' suitors nearly doubles when the king announces she's of marrying age. all she does is cry into mark's tunic.

"mark, please," she sobs, "let's just run. i have gold here somewhere. we can travel, like you used to!" she looks up at him, eyes blurry with tears.

"we can't leave, sunshine." mark says, stroking her cheek.

"what if we get married?" she kisses him briefly, and he chases her lips.

mark smiles, "there we go, love. first thing in the morning, yeah?"

-

the next day the couple go into town before dawn and ask the local priest to marry them. he agrees, albeit reluctantly.

surprisingly, the king isn't as furious as they'd expected when they return from their small escapade. _i expected this,_ he had said, looking disappointed.

donghyuck is giddy for the rest of the day, going around the castle, screaming _this is my husband!_ mark keeps asking her to keep her voice down, eventually resorting to just kissing her.

that night, mark holds her in his arms and tells her a story. he tells her a story about a man, a man who was so in love, he battled dragons and jumped through different worlds to be with the woman he loved. when he finishes his story donghyuck asks him, "would you do that for me?"

mark kisses her for a moment. "of course i would, i would live a thousand lives to find even one where you would love me." donghyuck giggles.

"i would too. i'd do anything for you. that's how much i love you."

he presses donghyuck closer to him and hopes the rest of his lives will live out like this.

**interlude**

they meet more often than not, and mark appreciates it. though he can't help but feel maybe the universe is trying to make up for all the lives lost by donghyuck's hand, which isn't too rare.

sometimes they meet and fall in love, even for a few minutes, a few days. tourists in sicily, holding each other through the cold autumn nights. best friends torn apart by men in big hats and bigger boots. soldiers in a camp, holding onto letters from their family.

family. mark hasn't thought about that in a long time. he remembers multitudes of lives, different parents and different families. the only one he'll ever stay true to is donghyuck.

one life, he had a disease. big words, a tumor in his brain. the doctors said he wouldn't see his tenth birthday. his parents then had cried. but mark didn't, why would he? he's died enough, kissed the reaper until his lips turned blue. _an old soul_ , they called him, _a child unafraid of death._

sometimes mark dies by donghyuck's hand. the case he's been working on is years old. some sort of drug cartel, spread so thinly the roots are nearly non-existent. mark is thirty-four when he finds it. a single document, linking one name to all the happenings in the underground. _donghyuck lee._

he destroys the evidence, destroys all his work and retires the next year. goes back to his parents house. it's not long before he's found really, about fourteen months or so. they burst through the door in the middle of the day. a shot through his parent's heads. they find him in the garden, having a cigar. one shot through the head, he can see donghyuck's sneer behind his eyelids.

the lives don't meet are rare. mark has gone lives without knowing if donghyuck was even born, but it hardly happens.

it really doesn't take him long to realize a love like his is ruinous. he becomes numb, apathetic to everything else. everytime he's a child again he tries to act like one, but he still thinks everyone can see the fatigue behind his eyes.

he doesn't flinch, not when he drives a blade into someone's heart, not when he throws out bouquets of roses. of course, there's the occasional happiness, like in a joke he hasn't heard before or something entirely comedic. the truest emotion he ever feels at this point though is when he's with donghyuck. in those lives where he gets to kiss him, and to hold him.

sometimes they meet through a mere brush of shoulders, red hair stepping into a bus. or a photo on a billboard, a wide smile, too obviously fake. or in a conference room, talking about a divorce neither of them could care less about. or even down the barrel of a gun with tears in his eyes.

sometimes mark gets to love donghyuck the way he wants to. holding him and telling him that it would be them, together for the rest of forever. they would kiss and love until daybreak and could tell the world how much they loved each other.

donghyuck would run into the streets and scream to the heavens. he would point at mark. _this is the boy i love!_ he would shout, _don't ever take him away from me!_ mark would stand at the sidewalk, laughing.

they would hold each other on cold nights. curled up into each other under thick blankets with no thoughts of letting go. whispering eternities between breaths.

_you are my sunshine_ , mark sings, _my only sunshine._

sometimes donghyuck would join in. _you make me happy, when skies are gray._

_you'll never know, dear, how much i love you._

_so please don't take my sunshine away._ mark and donghyuck would finish the song together, waiting for the sun to rise. mark would kiss his cheek and donghyuck would giggle, trying to pull away from mark. he would never let go of donghyuck, and he hasn't so far.

mark wished for eternity with donghyuck. he didn't think wishes could come true.

**iv**

when mark is five he meets donghyuck again. they had fallen in love in the life before this, but it was a love not meant to be, a love hidden behind pillars of castles and under prying eyes. mark is ecstatic, maybe this time they'll get to love how they want to. how they were meant to.

they grow up together. mark shares his secrets and sorrows with donghyuck, and in turn mark will always go along with his bad ideas (and donghyuck has many, many bad ideas).

-

when they're thirteen donghyuck asks mark to dye his hair.

"because brown is boring," donghyuck explains, "and i'm not boring." his tone is serious, and mark knows it.

mark smiles and agrees. the next week donghyuck steps out of mark's house with a blinding smile and bright red hair. he gets an earful from his mother and twelve new curses for his vocabulary.

-

donghyuck lays out the red blanket in his backyard, it's become a tradition for them on cool nights. they would lay out a blanket, share a bottle of orange juice, and just talk until daybreak.

at first they talk about mundane things, the biology report donghyuck had, mark's attempt to bake a cake. slowly, withut realizing it, their conversation drifts to the moon, to space. it had only been a month or so ago, apollo 11, they called it.

"but why," donghyuck begins, picking at his shirt, "why would anyone want to get to the moon? it just destroys the mystery, you know?" he takes a sip from the bottle as if he had just finished an hour long soliloquy.

mark hums, "yeah but it's human nature, isn't it? humans just want to understand everything."

donghyuck laughs into the night, "i like how you think, mark lee."

-

that summer donghyuck takes a liking to strawberry popsicles. they spend entire afternoons sitting on the sidewalk, cold juice dripping down their fingertips. donghyuck kisses him at the corner store with red juice dripping down his lips. his lips taste like strawberry juice and gold. he freezes and so does donghyuck, but mark kisses him back just as eagerly.

_don't tell anyone but i love you,_ donghyuck whispers to him. when they pull away donghyuck smiles like he never has before. they never really talk about it, but everytime they kiss mark knows it's a silent type of _'i love you.'_ they kiss behind trees on school trips, hold hands at the corner store.

sometimes donghyuck complains that mark hugs him too tight, but mark can hear his smile.

-

they get older. responsibilities tear them apart. mark spends nights crying about how he couldn't tell the world of how much he loved donghyuck. this life isn't so forgiving. all he can do is kiss donghyuck under blankets, under the guise of a sleepover.

_find a girlfriend,_ their families say, _a wife. you can't live life alone._ he can feel the scrutinizing gaze of his father when he excuses himself from the table.

mark wants to scream. _never!_ he wants to turn around and tell them, _not if it isn't donghyuck!_

-

high school ends with pink streamers and smuggled beer. donghyuck pulls at mark's arm and they make their way out of the party.

donghyuck leads him to sit on the porch and leans his head on mark's shoulder. mark can feel donghyuck shiver against him. he wihes he had brought his jacket.

"dad says we're leaving," donghyuck says it so quietly, like maybe if he said it carefully it wouldn't happen. mark nods, he knows what donghyuck means.

college, a topic neither had wanted to discuss. mark knows he would go to college, his parents have been saving up since he was born, but donghyuck isn't as lucky.

"he said it would be easier for me to get a job up north." he continues. "i'll miss you." mark drags him behind the house and kisses him like it's the last time. it is. _for now_ , a voice at the back of his mind says.

-

they meet decades later. mark has already lived his life helping others with theirs and now spends his days with shaking hands and blurry eyes. when donghyuck comes into the nursing home in an old wheel chair, mark can feel decades of lost love burst through his bones. all the nurses think they're cute. childhood friends reunited.

they stay together until mark takes his last breath. he hopes the next life will be as good. he hopes donghyuck will keep loving him. on his deathbed, donghyuck holds his hand. he can hear donghyuck's soft voice as he closes his eyes. _you are my sunshine. . ._

**v**

an heir to old money, that's what they called him, disdain in their whispers. rumors spread like wild fire. mark doesn't care. he throws parties, hundreds in attendance. it's the 20s! he tells them, live a little! he yells from the balcony, words of living forever and this moment being endless.

mark lee, they say, throws the best parties on this part of the coast. everyone thinks he's just some young flirt trying to find girls to spend the night with, but he isn't. he opens the doors of his mansion and waits, waits for a certain person to walk through.

while waiting, mark tries to distract himself. he throws himself into lavish parties. huge gowns and blinding lights. he throws himself onto other people. he kisses them, touches them, all the while wishing it were donghyuck. he knows he should feel guilty, but he doesn't. who are these people, in the grand scheme. they don't matter. nothing does. except donghyuck.

-

"mark! mark lee!" a deep voice shouts across the room.

mark turns and is met with a smiling face, crescent eyes. instantly he's pulled into a hug by a boy from a half-remembered dream. the arms wrapped around him are familiar. he feels himself smile.

"jeno?" mark is in a daze, it's the first time he's met someone from a past life which isn't donghyuck. does jeno remember the way he does? they haven't met in this life, have they?

jeno laughs loudly, a contrast from how he was when they last met. "you do remember me!"

mark nods and laughs along, ushering his old friend to a quieter area. they talk for hours while the party bustles around them. talk of business morphs into memories of the last life they spent together. all the tears and laughter they had shared.

jeno confesses that he's chasing someone too. jaemin. it's only the second life for him. mark smiles and tells him it will get better. he hopes jeno will find the one he loves. jeno wishes the same for him.

-

they become friends again, meeting occasioanally and always talking on the phone. there's a cafe a bit out of town which they begin to frequent. jeno prefers dark coffees and rich cakes while mark settles for the occasional scone.

jeno becomes a regular at mark's parties and it isn't long before they fall into each other's beds. they know it means nothing, and maybe it makes it better. he fucks jeno against every possible surface. once, jeno whimpers jaemin's name. mark kisses him to shut him up.

-

it's a chilly august night when jeno calls mark.

"is it always this hard?" jeno whispers into the phone.

mark says yes, it is hard. but giving up won't be worth it. he reassures his friend. if they really are the same, then there's many lives waiting for him. lives where jaemin will love him back.

jeno comes over that night. they kiss until they're lips are numb and jeno cries rivers. mark want to cry with him, but all he can do is whisper words of comfort.

mark only lives to sixty. neither he nor jeno find the people they love. when mark is on his deathbed, jeno holds his hand, but he doesn't sing.

**vi**

  1. it's all over the papers. mark lee, upcoming actor, to star in his own movie. he hardly has any control over the movie, but it's alright. acting is big these days, and he's been raking in the money.



the movie is simple, romeo and juliet but in the modern era. a story of a girl falling in love with a boy whose families wish to keep them apart. mark wants to laugh at the irony. he knows what it feels like, to be kept apart from someone you love. he's lived that life, more times than he'd want to.

mark is sitting at a conference table in a chilly room, reading through the script, when donghyuck walks in.

donghyuck lee, the director introduces him, he's going to be singing the theme for the movie. he meets the rest of donghyuck's band. they call themselves dreaming and mark laughs to himself. jaemin and jeno are there, the guitarist and drummer. he nods to jeno, who smiles back brightly.

the preparations for the movie go smoothly, and he and donghyuck get closer. the staff think it's nice, that they got close because of a shared korean background, and mark would never tell them the truth. the gossip papers pick up on their friendship too, and the two laugh over stupid articles about them.

-

on the premier of the movie donghyuck pulls him into a storage room and kisses him. they hold hands in the dark theater, mark thinks jeno notices.

mark stars in 3 more movies and his own sitcom, while dreaming releases 2 albums and countless singles. mark and donghyuck keep their relationship a secret, only dreaming knows about it, they don't judge of course, since jeno and jaemin have their own thing going on.

-

on donghyuck's 40th birthday, they tell the press. they don't have time to feel the backlash and hate, because a week later they move to jeju. mark and donghyuck move into a small cottage, loving each other where nobody else could find them.

it's a clear night, they lay out a ratty blanket and lay under the moon. it reminds mark of the second life, and countless others, but now he gets to kiss and hold donghyuck as much as he wishes. he takes advantage of that, taking donghyuck's hand in his own and kissing it whe

"i had a dream last night." donghyuck says. it's been quiet for some time.

"what was it about?" mark turns to donghyuck, kissing him slowly on the cheek. donghyuck keeps his eyes on the moon. he looks like he's shining, though mark thinks he shines brighter than even the sun.

mark could never blame donghyuck for what's happened, he could never shine as bright. it's fair, mark thinks, that he's the one who must chase donghyuck across ten, twenty-five, a thousand lifetimes.

"about us." donghyuck smiles, mostly to himself but mark sees it. "i'm sorry i didn't get to love you the way we were supposed to."

mark sighs, "you remember?" donghyuck turns to him, smiling shyly and holds his. he nods. "at least you get to love me now."

he kisses donghyuck, once under the moon of jeju, wishing he could stay like this forever. maybe things really just go full circle? _haha_. full sun.

the next day donghyuck goes into town. he proposes with a silver ring embedded with a green jewel.

-

maybe one day, the music will fade out. maybe one day mark will stop dancing. he will pause, take a breath and bow. maybe one day the curtain will go down, and the audience of bones will give a standing ovation. but it won't be soon.

for now, mark keeps spinning, digging into his shoes, wearing down the dance floor of the universe.

he will keep waiting, until donghyuck joins him for the curtain call. they'll hold hands and bow, the way they were always meant to.

**Author's Note:**

> quick stuff if u wanted to know:  
> -part iii was the last one to be written and i think it feels a bit different to the other parts so yeah  
> -ik 25 lives au's aren't usually written like this but i thought it would sort of fit the theme-ish?  
> -donghyuck actually remembers him a few times, but doesnt mention it to him so : /  
> -the poem mentioned in part i is a real poem! it's from lyrics from a dead language by eric gamalinda  
> -if you didn't already know, danse macabre means 'dance of the dead'
> 
> (i feel like i missed some tags??)


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